President Donald Trump requested the Supreme Court's intervention in a case concerning the unfreezing of $2 billion in foreign aid payments. Chief Justice John Roberts responded by temporarily delaying the midnight deadline set by a federal judge for the administration to release the funds.

The Supreme Court will review the case and the plaintiffs have until Friday at noon to respond. The Trump administration's emergency appeal came after court filings revealed that payments had not restarted and that thousands of USAID awards had been terminated or retained.

District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C. had previously ordered the administration to reinstate funding for USAID contracts by midnight on February 13th. During a hearing, Judge Ali expressed frustration that the government could not provide any information about whether any funds had been unfrozen.

The Department of Justice argued that the court's order was "untenable" and that it interfered with the president's ability to protect the integrity of the federal fisc and make appropriate judgments about foreign aid.